Are You Willing To Share The Healing Power of You?

Walking into the auditorium I honestly didn’t know what to expect. The event was billed as an evening with a musician who had been physically healed, in part, by music and has since helped others to heal through the sharing of his gift of music.

I didn’t know Andrew, but I soon became intrigued by his story. A tumor, initially thought to be cancerous was actually benign. However, the celebration quickly subsided as Andrew’s body began to shut down from an allergic anaphylactic shock while recovering from his surgery. For several days he vacillated between life and death, comatose in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at New York’s Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center. Sensing Andrew had perhaps lost his desire to live, out of fear and desperation his wife Continue reading “Are You Willing To Share The Healing Power of You?” →

This Is How I Will Make America Great Again

Someone says we need to make America great again.

America has never stopped being great. But we can always make it greater.

The real question which needs to be answered is who is going to make it happen?

America in 2016 is torn, angry, frustrated, partisan, and divided, fueled in great part by the train wreck of this year’s presidential elections. Many have profited politically from perpetuating a culture of “Us vs Them”, where being offended has become some sort of birthright and there’s always someone to blame for your unhappiness. Not that long ago America had room for compromise and intelligent rational conversations but now working Continue reading “This Is How I Will Make America Great Again” →

The True Gift Of Gratitude

As a kid, one of the best parts of my birthday was receiving birthday cards from my uncles and grandparents. Especially those cards designed specifically to hold cash. In all honesty, it was never about the card; I was really only excited about what was in the card.

It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was money. Just because I was born!

The rule back then was quite simple. You picked up the phone and called to thank the elders who sent the cash your way. Failure to acknowledge their generosity was a sure-fired way to get on the Ungrateful List. Kids on the Ungrateful List usually never saw those cards designed specifically to hold cash ever again.

I was happy to receive the cash, and always made the thank you calls. But my gratitude was laced with self-serving elements. I wanted to ensure Continue reading “The True Gift Of Gratitude” →

The Two Gifts Only You Can Give To Yourself

The road to finding peace and happiness is never straight. At least it wasn’t for me and those I’ve known who’ve spent years of their own meandering on a similar journey.

None of us are born angry, miserable, weak, unworthy, afraid, anxious, or insecure. Those are things we can become. Sometimes you can define the catastrophic moment when the world rose up and took away the peace and happiness you entered this world with. Sometimes, though, we look back and can find no specific reason why the peace and happiness we are looking for ever went away in the first place.

It’s surreal walking through your empty life surrounded by everyone else who have their lives all figured out and are moving forward. That’s what I assumed…everyone else Continue reading “The Two Gifts Only You Can Give To Yourself” →

The Benefits of Kissing Your Own Ass

It’s become standard operating procedure of late. The passing of a music icon disrupts the preprogrammed corporate music playlist of radio stations of the same genre. Now when I hear three songs by the same band or artist played back-to-back-to-back on the radio I assume someone has died.

That was the case recently with the loss of David Bowie. His passing filled the airwaves with his songs, his life celebrated through a lifetime of the music he created and shared with the world.

Sometimes hearing songs for the first time in a long while allows you to appreciate their artistry and message. Time changes us all and often with it our perspective of songs we’ve heard most of our adult lives.

“Insanity laughs…under pressure we’re cracking.”

Back in 1981 when it was recorded by Bowie and Queen, “Under Pressure” was lyrically insignificant to me. It was a great song driven by an infectious bass line. But I couldn’t relate to any meaning the words may have contained. The only pressure I had at that Continue reading “The Benefits of Kissing Your Own Ass” →

Your Mother Did Not Give Birth to a Cubic Zirconia

My dog doesn’t have earrings. And neither do I.

But everyone else in my house does, along with their collection of rings, bracelets, and necklaces. None of which belong to me.

Or my dog.

Jewelry. It gets dirty and dull sometimes. Gunk like hair spray, soap, gel and other yucky stuff build up and the jewelry loses it’s sparkle. From what they tell me, the best way to clean such delicate items is by using ultrasonic sound waves. Rings and bracelets are placed in a small water-filled container and the thousands of microscopic bubbles created by vibrations within the container gently remove all the dirt particles.

Once cleansed, the jewelry regains it’s original luster, allowing it to shine as brightly and radiantly as it originally did.

Life has a way of coating all of us with it’s own residue of yucky stuff which can prevent Continue reading “Your Mother Did Not Give Birth to a Cubic Zirconia” →

Why You Really Need To Hug Your Toaster

Perhaps your toaster is trying to tell you something?

I never think about my toaster. Even when I’m plugging it in. Even when I’m putting my English muffins into the over-sized slots. I never think about my toaster.

My toaster is just sitting there on the counter. It’s always been on my counter. Probably always will be, too. It’s just one of those props on the set of my mornings, just like the coffee maker and the can opener.

My relationship with my toaster is decidedly one-sided. It’s always been about what the toaster can do for me. White, wheat, or Continue reading “Why You Really Need To Hug Your Toaster” →

Karma the Boomerang Meets Grace the Stick

“He’ll get what’s coming to him someday.”

I overheard this in a conversation at a store today. Apparently this person was rather upset with another person, but at the same time she seemed to take some comfort in her gleeful anticipation of his impending demise.

In the world of Karma, what goes around comes around. And this person just couldn’t wait for Karma to settle the score. As if Karma was some sort of big brother thug with a baseball bat about to smash the headlights out of this guy’s pickup truck.

Karma is a force in this world for sure. It’s a magnetic energy of attraction with a “give and you shall receive” tattoo on it’s bicep. I, Continue reading “Karma the Boomerang Meets Grace the Stick” →

Becoming Your Own Mother

When I think of motherhood, the one word which comes to mind is love. Actually, I need two words…

Unconditional love.

I’ve felt it as a son, and I see it in my wife’s eyes as we raise our three daughters.

Unconditional love isn’t always pretty. It is often loud, sometimes quite contentious. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like love at all.

But underneath the drama and the slamming doors, the love of a mother is always there.

Continue reading “Becoming Your Own Mother” →

Indifferently Ever After?

Eventually even the new becomes oblivious. Ultimately the vibrancy of just about anything simply fades to black.

In a culture of attainment, we often spend far too much time attaining than appreciating all we’ve already gathered into our lives.

Especially when it comes to the people we share our lives with.

Does your someone special know they are still special? Or do you assume they just know it, even though they can’t remember the last time you made them feel that way? And neither can you?

Think of the significant relationships you have in your life as a child, parent, sibling, partner, friend…even your relationship with your self. Has what once made these relationships resonate so deeply within you been tempered by the unintentional but perhaps inevitable cloud of indifference?

None of us would probably look at our relationships and accuse ourselves of becoming indifferent. But while indifference isn’t the intention, often it becomes the result, no matter how well we “justify” our excuses.

Sometimes we just lose our way when we focus on what we think we are missing. A slight shift in focus towards what we already have is the first step on the path leading us back home.

The greatest gift we can ever give is the gift of ourselves, wrapped in love and tied with a bow of compassion. Such a gift restores the original lustre to any relationship, returning the magic to the magical, uplifting both the sender and the recipient.

But even the greatest gift is useless if it is never given.

In a challenging world we all call home, has there ever been a more important time for giving the gift of your love?

Love is always best served proactively.

It’s a great day to be you!

Peter Mis LivingHalfFull.com

Lessons From A Life Unfolding

Tag: love